The City Council wants to get a head start on controlling gang graffiti in the city and has approved an ordinance to establish a citizens graffiti eradication committee.
"Those who put the marks on there love to see them," Mayor Neldon Hamblin said. "Eradication is essential."Council member Gene Fessler agreed, saying that graffiti removal lessens a gang's power.
Police Chief Morton Sparks said the intent of the committee is to become a resource for the community. He's hoping it can receive funding after it is fully organized. He's not expecting the committee to accomplish much during its first year but said the police need some help with the growing problem.
"We're predicting this is going to be a difficult summer," Sparks said of the graffiti.
"It looks good to me," Council member Don Ormsby said of the ordinance. "I'm wholeheartedly behind it."
Ormsby also said he doesn't want the graffiti problem to grow into one as bad as Ogden's.
Fessler, the only council member to express concern, said he doesn't want graffiti removal to become an economic hardship on businesses that are frequently plagued by gang signs.